Tuesday, June 30, 2009

i have been reading other the book blogs in the world, and seeing that they kinda talk about the books, and what the books are about, and have this really nice review about the book... and then i looked here and saw that you all are privy to my deepest, darkest thoughts about what i'm reading! is it a blessing or a curse?! it could be why no one is sending me free books to review!!well, whatever, i'll let you chew on that... (as well as my obvious addiction to ellipsisesssss...)

anyway, about this shameless plug... do you know about NextReads? this is a very cool tool that libraries offer their patrons to help them decide what they want to... um... read next. it's a newsletter thingy that is sent to you via your email--but wait before you think SPAM... it only sends you lists of new and older books that INTEREST YOU!!!fabulous idea, right?! unfortunately, your library has to subscribe to the service... so get on your librarians and tell them this is a great thing and YOU WANT IT!! if you want to see a trial newsletter, let me know and i'll email you a link.

another very cool thing i just learned in library school (only 9 more semesters to go, in case you were wondering!) is randomhouse.com... yeah, these are the publisher/distributor people, but their website has a lot of great tools, like author alerts, book lists for almost everything you can think of and newsletters too! of course, i have signed up for a bunch of author alerts because i don't want my patrons to know about these before i do, because they get their name on the list and i have to WAIT! wait? no. i don't do that.

so here is my question: rosamunde pilcher is almost 86... do you think we'll see another book? in light of all of these deaths, i'm really hating mortality.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

by rachel cohn and david levithan made me all squishy with the memories of those times with that heady rush of emotion/lust* when you first meet the boy, and when the boy finally kisses you and you feel like you will implode if he stops kissing you...

but then your mind wanders into the mire of uncertainty and self-doubt... does he really like me, he's way too nice--he can't be trusted, what will i do if he doesn't call me tomorrow, or the next day, or the next...

why do we do that?!

or am i being too encompassing in thinking that this is a common thing, and this is just my deal!? i mean, now i do the same thing with grown-up women i meet and want to be friends with. i think things are going great, until i start rethinking all of my words and thoughts...

really? i said THAT?

seriously?!

i didn't see this movie before i read the book, but i wonder if a movie can do the book any justice whatsoever. the book is written with rachel cohn writing norah's thoughts and feelings and david levithan giving us insight to nick and what's going on in his head. i don't know how the movie could explain the rush of emotions driving these two together, apart and together all night in the club scene of manhattan. the feelings are raw, sweet and a little sad, but they are real feelings.

this book won the ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2007 and the ALA Quick Pick for Young Adult Reluctant Readers 2007. it reads super fast and is a full of music references. and if you're looking for a more "mature" yet no-less gut-wrenching book with lots of music in it, try love is a mixed tapeby rob scheffield

Thursday, June 11, 2009

ok, this morning, i feel like coreyfeldman in stand by me when he says. "then what happened" at the end of the barf-o-rama story... and not because i do giggle at the most inane things like a pre-pubescent boy. but because upon finishing swapping lives, i want to know what happened next!

it's not because i can't see the value of an open-ended story, but because jane green wrote this story that you can't help to get meshed into! and so by the end, your emotionally tied to these women and are hoping that they do go on to better people because of the swap.

well, i don't feel that way completely... i didn't like amber. total social climber. i've witnessed the keeping up with the jones' east coast style personally, and those chicks kinda freak me out. but i did feel for her losing herself in mommy/wife-dom. and maybe her whole character was too close to real life for me... and that's why i loved vicki. single. londoner. great job. funny. what's there not to love and covet? and then there's bill-the chicken man with a sexy bum and hughjanas {say it out loud} both wooing for her attentions... oh, to be woo'd again... and by some guy with an english accent... hmm...

Monday, June 8, 2009

and if it's keeping me awake at nights, i think it's a sure sign that i better blog... so here i am, blogging rather than working!

i'm almost done with The New Girls by Beth Gutcheon... it's not that i don't like it, but there are so many books that distract my unfocused mind! i think it's really slow going because i'm reading/listening to too many others...

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton ... a true gothic novel with the whole thing unraveling in the last 5 pages of the book... i liked the book, but i wanted more. it made me think of other books that i really liked, but was frustrated at the end because i wasn't DONE even tho the author was. if you like this kind of sadistic insanity, try The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield or The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell... go ahead, drive yourself crazy, don't do laundry or feed your kids because that's what going to happen when you get yourself caught in these webs... good stuff though

i'm also listening to Swapping Lives by Jane Green... last summer i read her Beach House and loved, loved, loved it! so when i was going to montana in april i grabbed Swapping Lives to lisen to, but we of course listened to Away by Amy Bloom (see post for May 1, 2009), so i have finally gotten around to listening to it... and i'm not quite done, but this book is full of twists, turns and completely unexpected twirls. i keep expecting the usual events as this isn't a new idea, but i'm pleasantly surprised! premise is this--an english journalist, who is very much single at 35 (but has the wonderful luxury of the neighborhood shag) who swaps her life with that of a married, east coast, very wealthy SaHM and her "McMansion". neither is especially happy, and when the magazine pushes for this "experiement," they both jump at the chance. but what i find to be so interesting about this book are things i think we all struggle with at one point or another...

*why is it that we're all so eager to hop over the fence to dance on the greener grass?

* why do we all play the "keeping up with the jones'" when we're sick of doing it?

*and why do we search for things to make us happy--when if we slowed down, we'd see that we have everything we need?

it's one of those annoying hazards about reading... you get convicted by these "fictious" characters living these "fictious" lives, and all of the this "fiction" causes you to start specuating about your very real life. but the real rub is what are we doing to our kids? what are we teaching them? ugh...

(jane green is coming out with "dune road" this month... without reading it, i recommend it)

and of course, i have Voyager sitting on the table beckoning me back to scotland and claire... um... jamie!!